Kravitz: T.J. Oshie gains fame following U.S. Olympic shootout

Feb. 16, 2014

USA forward T.J. Oshie prepares to take a shot against Russia goaltender Sergei Bobrovski in an overtime shootout during a men's ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Oshie scored the winning goal and the USA won 3-2. / AP

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USA defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) is congratulated by teammates including T.J. Oshie (74) after scoring a goal in the second period of a men's ice hockey preliminary round game against Slovenia during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Shayba Arena. / Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports

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SOCHI, RUSSIA — In the hours after U.S. Olympic shootout hero T.J. Oshie helped beat Russia, the St. Louis Blues center added roughly 130,000 Twitter followers. That included one tweet from President Barack Obama, who added his two cents on Oshie’s 4-of-6 shootout performance Saturday at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.

“Congrats to T.J. Oshie and the U.S men’s hockey team on a huge win! Never stop believing in miracles. #GoTeamUSA – bo’’

And isn’t that the way we measure the immensity of a moment in this digital modern age? Isn’t the measure of a man, or a woman, now based on the number of Twitter and Facebook followers?

He is T.J. “Sochi.’’

He is a rock star.

All this for a guy who plays on the fourth line of the U.S. team, a player who was basically added to the team because of skill level in the shootout.

“People are going to get bored with my tweets and hit the ‘unfollow’ button,’’ Oshie said after the Americans’ 5-1 win over Slovenia on Sunday. “ ‘Who’s this Oshie guy? Get him outta here.’

“I got a couple of special tweets from guys I idolized. Jeremy Roenick had one in there. The story is when I was 14, I was in a skills competition in roller hockey and he was passing it to me. It was great of him to tweet to me.’’

Oh, yeah, and there was the president.

“Can you top that?’’ Oshie said. “For him to go out of his way and take time in his busy life to tweet out to me and my teammates, that’s pretty special.’’

If you know anything about hockey, you know this: He’s taken a massive load of grief from teammates about the growing Legend of T.J. Oshie. They’ve been on his case since the moment he beat Sergei Bobrovsky four times in the epic shootout Saturday.

Hockey players are like offensive linemen: anything that smells of individuality and self-aggrandizement is seriously frowned upon.

“Yeah, a little bit of ribbing has come his way, but it’s all been in good fun,’’ said American and Blues teammate David Backes. “… I think (the attention is) fantastic. For a guy who’s kind of been under the radar for all his intangibles and all the things he does on the ice, it’s great. He’s well-deserving of it and I hope he soaks it all in while he can.’’

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Said Oshie: “There have been guys cracking jokes, but I’m trying to put them to rest. I’m not going to repeat them because I don’t want other people to say them. I’ve heard ‘Oshie, Sochi,’ and stuff like that. It’s been crazy. But I really didn’t want that to get in our heads, and I thought we did a really good job of refocusing (Sunday).’’

For the second night in a row, Oshie was the most-wanted man in the mixed zone, which is a weird thing, because he hasn’t been the alpha dog on his own team since his senior year of high school in hockey-mad Warroad, Minn. At North Dakota, he was obscured by Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews. With St. Louis, he stands behind Backes and others.

That’s what the grand Olympic stage will do for an athlete. One minute, you’re just a guy. The next, the president is sending you tweets.

For one day at least, Oshie’s life changed. He had interview requests from all the major American TV and radio shows, including the “Today Show,’’ “Good Morning America’’ and everybody this side of “Oprah.’’

“We tried to accommodate them the best we could, but there’s only so much you can do,’’ said Dave Fischer of USA Hockey. “Plus, with the time difference (nine hours to the East Coast), it’s tough to get to all of them.’’

He did a bunch of them, though. After the mixed zone, he went to a larger news conference at the Main Media Center. Then he went to NBC, where he talked with Dan Patrick, Al Michaels and “Mr. (Cris) Collinsworth’’ before returning to his room in around 10:15 p.m.

“I was very calm until I got back and talked to family members and my fiancee,’’ he said. “That got the heart going a little bit. I tried to go to bed, but that didn’t work too well, so I tried to listen to some music. The last time I looked at the phone it was 12:30, so I’m not sure when I got to sleep.’’

Oshie may be a rock star until further notice, but don’t call him or any other athlete a “hero.’’ He had one of the best responses of the Olympics on Saturday, responding to a question about his hockey heroism by saying, “Heroes wear camo.’’

“My grandparents were in the military and so is a cousin of mine, and a close buddy, so when I heard the word ‘hero’, it didn’t really seem like what I am,’’ he said Sunday. “Those guys sacrifice a lot more than a couple of hours in the gym and practice every day. Those guys sacrifice their lives.’’

When these Olympics started, Oshie belonged only to St. Louis, where he plies his trade professionally. Now, he belongs to Washington state, where he was born. He belongs to North Dakota, where he played college hockey. He belongs to Minnesota, where he moved as a child and spent his formative years. Shoot, if he once drove on I-70 through Indianapolis, he’d belong to Indiana, too.